Compression 101

What is ‘Compression’?

Compression is the reduction in volume and increase in pressure of a gaseous fluid.

Why Compress?

Natural gas must be compressed for efficient processing, transportation, and storage.

By decreasing the volume and increasing the pressure, pipelines can accommodate much higher gas flow rates.

Decreasing well head pressure by ‘sucking’ on the well can increase production of both gas and oil.

Natural gas compression can be utilized to enhance recovery of oil through a process called ‘gas lift’, in which natural gas is injected and circulated through a well bore to reduce the hydrostatic pressure thus ‘lifting’ the fluid.

What does it take to Compress gas?

Roughly 200 horsepower is required to compress and move 1 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day) of natural gas from a wellhead pressure of 50 PSI to a pipeline pressure of 1200 PSI.

How much Compression is needed?

U.S. produces roughly 72,000 MMSCFD, requiring roughly 15 million horsepower for production alone.